De smedt



iUNiiTED Me res i errerir @rrrca insult/rune R NONC0NDUCT!NGWBITUMINOUS tonrouuo FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES.

EPECKFIGATION forming part of Letters .Patent No.

239,466, dated March 29, 1881.

Application Bled February 19, i881. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it. known that I, Eowltm) J. De Show, oi- W'ashington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful lin- 'pro:enicnts in Insulating or lion-Gonduoting; Bituminous Compounds for Electrical Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

It is my aim to obtain a cheap. easily applied, eiiicient, and durable non-conducting or insulating material for electrical purposes generally, but particularly for use as or in a cor criug, sheath, or coating for telegraph-wires.

duct possessing adhesiveness,

Coal-tars and hearyoils of petroleuin,whet-her natural or the residuum resulting: from the distillation oi petroleum, are known non-conductors of electricity, and are cheap and easily obtained in large quantity; but. in use they deteriorate, their relatively quick destruction'and deterioration being due, in part, to the evaporation: of certain volatile constituents, but mainly to their gradual oxidation under the natural influences to which they are subjected during their period oi use. Oxidation beyond a certain point. brings the material to a condition in which it easily diseutegrated, and this is fatal to the efficiency of the material as a non-conducting covering. A further objection as regards heavy petroleinnoils is that in their ordinary condition they have no adhesireness. in OIiiBYtO'O'bViD/[G these diilicultics 5. subject said products, when heated so as to be brought to the proper state of fluidity, an oxidizing agent, or an agent which will readily give up its oxygen to the same when broughtin contact therewith. The result is that I obtain an oxidized hydrocarbon progreat tensile strength, and iinpermcability, resulting from lacli 0t attinity for moisture, combine to render the oxidized hydrocarbon product particularly valuable for use as an insulating coating or covering for telegraphwires, the material not being at all brittle,

and, owing to the oxidizing process to which it has been subjected, preservingits condition practically unimpaired during its period of use, Whether the wire on which it, or the corering of which it forms part, is deposited, be suspended in the air, submerged in the water, or buried in the earth.

ducting coating or covering wires and other conductors of electricity. I It is brittle and to the action of qualities which.

1n order to oxidize the coal-tar product I employ the process described in my Letters Patent N 236,995 of January .45, 188i, and to oxidize the hoary oils of petroleum 1 make use of the process described in my Letters Patent No. 237,662, of February 8, 1881. The oxidized hydrocarbon product thus obtained is available for use as an insulating or non-coir for telegraphcan be used alone or intermingled or combined with other suitable substances or materials used for coating, sheathing, or covering; telegrnplrwires, and may be applied in any suitable way, according to the conditions of its use. The coating thus obtained will be flexible, tough, and im 'nnvious to |uoisture,'and wiltrcmaiu practically unaffected by the natural influences to which it may be subjected during its period of use. In case it-should be desired, in order to protect the wire from abrasion, or for other reasons, to sheath the wire with fibrous or other covering the oxygenated hydrocarbon hcrciubefore described may be applied in auy,suitable way to the wire, to the fibrous or other material of which the sheath is composed, or to the exterior of the sheath. In tine it may be used in anyot' the ways in which other non-conducting conipounds have heretofore been used as or in a covering or coating fortelegraph-wires.

I am not necessarily restricted to the particular degrees of heat specified in my aforesaid Letters Patent. The modesot' trcat-nieut. therein set forth answer the purpose well; but, in so far the oxidizing feature is concerned, only so much heat is needed as will put the material in a sufficiently liquid condition to enable the oxidizing agent, such as the picric or pcrmnnganic acids named in my aforesaid Letters Fatent, to properly mix and unite with it; author: the other hand, I can raise the heat. to anyv desired exteut the higher the heat the more of the oxidizing agent will the material take, and, beyond a certain point, the harder and. less ductile will the product be. The process,howerer, should never, for the purposes which I have here in view, he carried to a point at which the product will become brittle or will haveits toughtrees and tenacity impaired.

rod

2 I meme Irenimlgin conclusion, that i can employ I t.he hereinhefore-deseribeil process of treating hem'y oils of petroleum for the treatment of what are known as liquid asphalts in. order to bring them to a condition in which they lint) be available for the uses herein eontenr" plated. Liquid asphalt in its natural state is too thin and has too little coherency. It. can

not be AH-EILLQIENDL so i ziswtoflthieliee it to 11m.

and tough, has lost but, little; it anything, in bulk. v

Havingdescrieed my in yention, what I clai m and desire to eecure by Letters Patent is--' .l. The application and use of the hereinhe fore-described oxidized hydroem'bo' product for insulatingor coveringtelegraph wires and other electrical confine-tors, substantially as setforth, a i

2. Teiographn'ire coated with or ineaseai in the herein-described oxidized hydrocarbon pr0duet,-\'vhother used alone or in conjunction with other substances or materials.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto my hand this 19th day of February, 185%,

E. 3. DE SHEET, 

